Recently, polymer nanocomposites have been in the spotlight as a novel material due to their excellent properties. Among polymer nanocomposites, a significant amount of research on graphene and carbon nanotubes based on carbon has been conducted. Since graphene and carbon nanotubes have excellent electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties, the application of these materials in a wide range of industrial fields, such as sensors, batteries, and hydrogen storage, may be expected.
According to previous research, it was verified that the uniform distribution and addition of graphene oxide sheets between polymer chains is an appropriate method of improving thermal and mechanical properties of polymers.
For example, in “Graphene-based composite materials” (Nature, 2006: 282-286), Sasha Stankovich described the preparation of a material having physical properties better than that of typical polystyrene by modifying graphene oxide obtained from graphite with phenyl isocyanate and dispersing the modified graphene oxide in a polystyrene polymer.
Meanwhile, polyimide resin from among polymer materials exhibits excellent heat resistance, chemical resistance, wear resistance, and weather resistance, based on the chemical stability of an imide chain, and in addition, exhibits a low thermal expansion coefficient, low air permeability, and excellent electrical properties. Thus, polyimide resins have been widely used in various industrial sectors, such as high temperature adhesives, engineering plastics, aerospace, microelectronics, and chemistry, by utilizing the widely applicable physical properties, and the application range thereof has been gradually increased as the development of monomers suitable for particular purposes and synthesis methods have been variously and accurately made. Recently, polyimide having a low dielectric constant and a high level of stability has attracted much interest in order to increase circuit speed and minimize stress between a support and a film in the electronics industry.
A polymer nanocomposite may be prepared by a method, in which nanosized particles are separated and dispersed in a polymer material and thus, physical properties of the polymer material are improved. Since impact resistance, tensile strength, and stiffness may be improved by dispersing and adding particles on a nano-scale to polymer materials, polymer nanocomposites are used as advanced composite materials.